When using an image diagnosis device using CT (Computed Tomography), etc., for the purpose of reducing the exposure dose and shortening the imaging time, whole body imaging whereby images of the entire body are acquired through a single round of imaging is performed in some cases. When images of the entire body have been acquired through whole body imaging, processes such as radiogram interpretation for images of each region included in the captured medical images of the entire body may be divided among and performed by multiple operators.
Thin client systems that send processing requests from clients to a server via a network and then display the processing results from the server using the clients have started to be introduced as medical image processing systems. As a result of the introduction of such medical image processing systems, it has become possible for multiple operators to work in parallel to perform processing of medical images managed and stored on the server. Therefore, by using such a system, it becomes possible to divide and execute the processing of medical images among multiple operators.
When dividing the processing of medical images among multiple operators in this manner, as an example, for the images of each region, the primary physician sends a request to an operator specializing in the region so as to perform processing of the images of that region. Based on the request from the primary physician, each operator processes the images of the corresponding region and notifies the primary physician of the processing results. Moreover, there may be cases in which multiple operators perform the processing of a single region. In such a case, after completing their process, the operator receiving the processing request issues a new processing request to an operator in charge of the following process. Once all of the processing has been completed, the operator who performed the final processing notifies the primary physician of the processing results. When dividing and performing processing among multiple operators in this manner, it is important to monitor the work status of each operator in charge of the processing. However, in conventional systems, because the work status is monitored based on notifications of processing results from each operator, for example, it has been difficult for the primary physician or with each operator to easily confirm the work status of other operators.
The objective of the embodiment of the present invention is to make it possible to easily confirm the work status of each operator when dividing and performing the processing of medical images among multiple operators.